Was He Married or Not?

4. The Chronicon Orientale assigns the reading of St. Paul's letters as the cause of his conversion to Christianity, and proceeds to state how, after their perusal, he presented himself for baptism to Demetrius, then Bishop of Alexandria, who admitted him in due course. Whether this was actually the cause of his conversion or not, we know from what he has himself told us in his letter to Philemon ([11]p. 56), that both before and after baptism he was a diligent student of all that was written for and against Christianity.

5. Whether, in accordance with the common practice of the Eastern Church at that time, Dionysius was married or not, is a moot point. He addressed his treatise peri Phuseos to one Timotheus ho pais, and we read of hoi paides (of whom Timotheus was one) as accompanying him in his flight ([12]p. 44). One would naturally infer from this that he was then a widower (his wife not being mentioned), and that these were his sons; but they may have been his pupils, on the supposition that he was still Catechete as well as Bishop, or, which is less likely, his servants. [2]

[2] Most of those who read this will be aware that pais (Lat. puer) can be used in various senses, like our "boy" and French garçon.